Tie Guan Yin - What am I doing wrong?

I am mostly a green tea aficionado, but I have felt the urge to "take a break" and try white teas and oolongs. I just received a batch of oolong, Tie Guan Yin, but it didn't have the usual brewing instructions that other teas come with. I pour 175 F water into 2 teaspoons of leaves in a 7 oz. gaiwan. I steep it for 1 minute, then a second infusion for 30 seconds. The second infusion is noticeably lighter in color. By the time I attempt a third infusion, there is no taste.

You are brewing it like a green tea, if you use a small amount of leaves, like 3 grams for 200cc you should leave it there for 10 minutes and drink it, that is a single serving, but I recomend buying high grade TGY like Yunnan sourcing imperial grade for 34 $/100 grams, that is the highest grade I have tried, and I like it a lot, try to gong fu it, use a lot of leaves, you can do the exact same that houdeasianarts blog recommends, their brewing instruction is very good, I use the same for TGY.

Listening to the instructions by the vendor. Just follow your taste buds instead. If the brew is weak, try using more leaf or brewing longer. If it's acidic, bitter, or astringent, do the opposite. Soon enough you'll figure it out.

As a guide, TGY generally is supposed to be light and floral in taste. If your TGY doesn't taste like that, try doing something different.

Thank you for the suggestions. Yes, since green tea has been my choice for years, my brewing techniques are all about green tea. I will try using hotter water, then if that doesn't work, I will try using more leaf. Thanks for the advice!

I agree that hotter water might help. Maybe brew a little bit longer. If the leaf just about fills the gaiwan when fully opened, and you still aren't tasting much after the second steep, I'd blame the tea.

I found out that 5 grams to 100 ml water is enough room for the leaves to fully open, do not put more, I use 6 grams to 120 ml, and a good TGY should give at least 6 infusions. With oolongs you should use gong fu method of tea preparation, it is designed for it, if you use very little leaf, the tea will be tasteless, you might be used to green tea glass preparation.

If you're using a 7-ounce gaiwan with 2 teaspoons of TGY, I recommend steeping at 195-200 degrees at 2-3 minutes, increasing your time by thirty seconds to one minute for each infusion. Brewing it this way will probably yield no more than four cups at most. 2-3 cups sounds about right with the grade it seems you're using.

You might want to throw in an extra teaspoon of the TGY (making 3 tsp./1 tbsp. total) and steep for 1-1.5 minutes at the above temperature. You'll get some more infusions.

Get a 80-120 ml gaiwan. Preheat with boiling water. Fill 25% full with TGY. Do a flash steep (as fast as you can pour the water in and out). Discard this brew. Brew subsequent brews 3-5 seconds until the tea gets weak. Add time as needed.

Always boiling water- let it stop bubbling then it's ready to use. The leaves should be filling the gaiwan by steep 5 or so. If not you didn't use enough leaf...